


Don't Think, Just Do

by MonsterAmongCashton (IfWallsCouldMuke)



Series: Bound In Madness [1]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: (here comes the hard part), (in my world anyways), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Cliffhangers, Exes, Gay Sex, Light Bondage, M/M, Plot Twists, Porn with Feelings, Surprise Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2020-01-11 03:29:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18421896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IfWallsCouldMuke/pseuds/MonsterAmongCashton
Summary: A mad king… is only as good as a dead one.Or,Calum is a Clan's King with secrets,Ashton has more secrets,Michael wants to bash some sense into his best friend.





	Don't Think, Just Do

**Author's Note:**

> I hate March, and here's a new fic...?

_A mad king… is only as good as a dead one._

Calum stares at the galactic pool illusion he created in effort to calm himself down. He knows what happened to all the Kings before him. He wouldn’t be the first or the last to succumb to the same fate. He doesn’t need to summon his _Sword of Damocles_ to see for himself.

The colour associated with his power, his Clan, after all, has multitude of meanings and symbolisms behind it.

And none of them is ever perceived in a positive way.

 

\---

 

If someone told Calum before or after his sister’s death that he’s the next King, he’d have scoffed and walked away. It’s a rare feat for a family to produce two Kings in the same generation of children. He was aware of how powerful he was, but never in such short notice was he ready to become a King.

 _Emptiness, abyss, chaos…_ Calum huffs in indignation, still wary of another Clan member showing up even in a neutral territory. _Just a short round of words associated with my colour._

“Deep in thoughts, aren’t you?”

Calum doesn’t bother looking up, knowing all too well who that voice belongs to. “I’m not a second-in-command anymore, I think I’m allowed to be a broody asshole.”

“At least your Clan found the next King so quickly and effortlessly,” Ashton knows better than to ignore the hint and sit beside the King, yet he does so without a second thought. “They killed each other in the frenzy heat of the battle, Calum. And now my Clan is scouring the land, hoping the King unleashed their potential.”

“Cause that makes it so much easier to find your King,” Calum rolls his eyes, still unable to meet Ashton’s gaze. “You always knew I’d be a King.”

“Not just because you had more than just a brief family history,” Ashton doesn’t seem so bothered by Calum’s blatant impoliteness. “Everyone in Australia and New Zealand knows of your family’s impressive history.”

“You also have heard of many rumours about the undeniable fate of the Kings of my Clan, haven’t you?” Calum’s rage almost succeeds in winning over his rational side. “Is that why you never wanted to swear in service to my sister?”

The sharp gasp tells everything.

“It’s a fate I never want to realise for you, Cal,” it’s too brief for Calum to think over if it really happened, but he feels a finger-shaped heat brush against his cheek. “And were it to happen, I don’t want to be there, suffering alongside.”

“Is that because you love me, or because you don’t want to be harmed?”

When Calum finally looks up into the hazel eyes he missed so much, he knows the answer he knew all along.

 

\---

 

“This isn’t healthy for you, dude,” isn’t the first thing he wants to hear when he slinks back to the hotel his Clan owns. “King or not, bottling shit up won’t stop the inevitable.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be my second-in-command?” Calum ditches the effort to get rid of Michael.

“I’m your best friend before that tacky title,” Michael rolls his eyes. “Talk to me.”

“It feels like what happened with Mali is accelerated in me,” Calum confesses. “Our type of magic is dangerous.”

“Simply put, it’s not supposed to be destructive,” Michael hums, jerking his head in direction of the lifts. “Let’s discuss in your suite. I know that one’s the only one without a single surveillance camera.”

 

“Did you get rid of the surveillance cameras so there isn’t any accidental homemade video floating about or because you’re the King now?” Michael has a smirk on his face, Calum knows his best friend too much to not know that, even when Michael’s looking at the wall in front of them both.

“You know I’m not careless,” Calum evades the concise answer. “Also, the cameras are built with a bit of charm so a snap of your fingers will turn it off for your privacy.”

“You still kept this, huh?” Michael muses, and Calum groans. “He left you, and yet you kept the last thing he gave you.”

“It was for my twenty-fifth birthday,” Calum wonders if he can use magic to hide his spreading blush. “It’s a nice décor.”

“A nude sketch of you with your legs thankfully together?” Michael skims his fingertips against the canvas, magic radiating from him. “Say… why do I detect _his_ magic on this… horrifying piece of work?”

“I never threw gifts away, especially when they are so artful,” the King wonders if he can throw Michael off this meaningless conversation.

“You let the most artful thing in your life walk away.”

 

And Calum knows he shouldn’t have.

 

\---

 

“You keep coming here, Cal, and you really shouldn’t,” Ash sounds remorseful, but Calum ignores his former… _partner_ and stands up, his face an inch away from his enemy.

“I’m a King. Only another King will be powerful enough to match me at my full power,” he wants to lean in. He wants to give in to his most primal desires and kiss Ashton senseless.

He wants to act like Ashton is his, his alone, back in the comforts of his suite, and let Ashton comfort him in the ways only the hazel-eyed lad can. The only thing separating himself from his deepest urge is himself.

And dammit, Ashton decides today to be a perfect gentleman who respects Calum wholly.

“As a King, what will you do?” Ashton muses, their lips only a few centimetres apart. “Since when was temporal manipulation part of Onyx Clan abilities?”

“And I’m guessing being a part of Amethyst Clan bestowed you infinite supply of patience?” speaking only made the matter worse, his upper lip fluttering against Ashton’s lower, pressure no less than a gossamer rip into a water droplet.

“Once the Amethyst King has been found, we can’t continue this,” Ashton mumbles, as though he feels the pressure from Calum’s Onyx Aura.

“I’m not doing anything to you,” Calum intensifies the level of the cloaking shadow around him. “My power is only to amplify.”

 

\---

 

Calum’s sanity makes a grand return right before he would have initiated anything with Ashton. He brought his former partner to the battle that ended both Mali and Penelope, the late Amethyst King. Even though the selection of Kings isn’t so hereditary, the Tablet of Gems has a bitchy way of selecting the next King once the predecessor has passed away.

“You know that I can still see you with your cloaking around since we’re in the same Clan, right?” Michael makes a snide remark. “What happened with Ashton?”

“It seems Amethyst Clan is still looking for their King,” Calum pointedly ignores the question. “Which is odd, don’t you think? Anyone who realises they got the potential would step up and tell someone of authoritative figure and they can come forth. Let their presence be known. I hear Topaz Clan is already gunning for them.”

“I think the King is known within the Clan,” Michael uses his brain for once. “Think about it. The King always has the strongest power, whether that be offensive or defensive. Any Clansman around would notice that. They only get the fancy Sword as the proof.”

“I suppose you’re right for once,” Michael glares at him.

 

\---

 

Once Michael runs off to spend some quality time with Luke, the Clan’s best protection magic projector, Calum uses his void magic to teleport to Ashton’s flat. This magic only works if the user—the Onyx King—knows the exact location.

“Well, either you erred with your calculation, or you decided to show up naked in my shower… during,” Ashton looks flushed all over his body, including a specific body part. “In case you can’t tell, I’m busy.”

“You know Onyx Kings are gifted with void magic,” Calum thinks it’s a minor inconvenience he can’t retrieve the clothes he lost in the void dimension, but he wasn’t wearing the expensive leather jacket like the first time he (accidentally) void-travelled.

“Still upset I didn’t swear my oath to you?”

“You never would’ve listened to my orders, King or not,” Calum feels his temporary work on his hair dissipating, water soaking and plastering his hair against his forehead. “The only orders you followed…” he drops to his knees gracelessly, mouth agape. “… were the ones that benefited you.”

“Before, you were your sister’s Lieutenant,” Calum suspects Ashton is using his magic to keep the water warm. “Now you’re a King on his knees for a mere Clansman of your enemy.”

“Just stay still.”

Calum knows better. But it looks like Ashton doesn’t either. They can pretend nothing bothers them, like they aren’t in separate Clans. Like they’re still a couple in honeymoon phase. Like they won’t do this for few more days. Like they won’t then relapse into awkward encounters at The Park. Like they won’t eye-fuck until one caves in.

 _Like they’re still in love and open about it_.

He’s proud as fuck when it comes to a lot of things, but being on his knees to swallow around Ashton’s cock, bobbing his head up and down with wanton moans like a cheap whore. He always liked the way Ashton tasted, not different from their promised ‘last times’.

“You’re weak,” Ashton groans, and Calum can’t tell in which way the Amethyst Clansman meant that.

“As are you,” Calum wrings a leg around his lover, using void magic to teleport the short distance to the bed.

It should be far beneath a King of Clan seeking pleasure from a rivalling Clansman that betrayed him, but here they are like clockwork. Maybe a trace of magic was involved, but he feels relaxed, like this peach and quiet is real, as Ashton starts rocking into him.

If only he can freeze time.

“You know I never stopped,” Ashton’s whispered words burn white-hot into Calum’s skin, both of them so close to the bliss they’re chasing. “And I never will.”

When he lets go, Calum wonders how long he has left before the inevitable.

 

\---

 

“We’re missing the Opal King’s general meeting with us again?” Calum raises his eyebrows, noting the big hickeys covering the small patch of skin uncovered by the collared black shirt Michael’s wearing.

“Powerful or not, she’s been stable for a few decades, it’s a miracle she didn’t crumble earlier,” Michael scoffs “I believe this is more to her age than her exceeding her limits.”

“If you’re speaking in magic senses, yes, you are correct,” Calum tosses the briefing onto the side table. “She’s been using her Kingly privileged magic to sustain herself, that much I know. While the other Kings have their abilities divided into offensive or defensive, Opal Kings never defined theirs as either.” He tosses a paperclip into the air and uses his void magic to obliterate it. “Guess we should look more into the grey areas.”

“The Topaz Clan sent a messenger whilst you were fucking your ex,” Michael bluntly announces. “And they want an alliance.”

“Since that ever worked out between our history,” Calum scoffs. “Topaz Clan never stuck to one Clan as their potential ally. By now, I’m certain they have managed to persuade the Opal King into believing they’re on the same boat.”

“Have some faith in your distant cousin,” Michael states. “She may be ancient, but her mind is clearer than yours. Only thing we should watch out for is the announcement of the new Amethyst King. From what I gather, the Topaz Clan know that two of the Clans are vulnerable right now.”

“Michael—”

“As your second-in-command, I beseech you listen to me!” Michael snarls, wisps of black smoke-like aura emanating from Calum’s literal lifelong best friend. “I’m the strategist here, and it’s so easy to read the other Clans view ours as an easy target. All Amethyst Clan has to do is find their damn King. And they know you won’t do jackshit if Ashton’s involved.”

“That’s personalising the Clans’ unknown reasons for strife,” Calum knows this is a losing battle.

“I get how you feel, or at least, I can understand how it’d be if Luke walked out of this hotel this moment and decided to join another Clan,” Michael frowns when they both hear a buzz. “It’s just Luke, let him in.”

“Jesus, those Amethyst goons are so moody,” Luke mutters, three people trailing him. “They insisted a meeting with you.”

“And rightfully so,” a voice Calum has engraved in his soul muses. “Was it not a custom a new King meets the existing ones?”

“I don’t answer to dogs who have a change of heart,” the Onyx King waves Ashton away so he can greet the new Amethyst King.

“Pleasure to finally meet you, Calum,” the voice is a scratch along the smooth granite just to get a reaction. The owner is slightly shorter than a pissed looking Michael, their eyes glinting with promise of madness. “I believe you’ve heard of me.”

“Gabriel,” Calum barely acknowledges the new King. “Of course the Tablets bitch and choose you.”

“I’m here to suggest an alliance, yet you are so rude to me,” _was it my imagination or did Ashton just flinch?_ “You, me, the perfect chime.”

“Last I checked, you’re only good for protection. Strongest defense isn’t the best offense, my friend. I could be reading one of the very long reports and send your ass to void without lifting a muscle,” his eyes meet Ashton, and for a split second, he sees regret.

“I see your Lieutenant and your… what’s his title again?”

“Your death,” Luke sneers.

“He’s my personal guard, I suggest you watch your mouth or he’ll kill you on the spot,” Calum feels a migraine forming. “I refuse your alliance, now scurry back. I know where your headquarters are, don’t be so smug.”

 

\---

 

“Ashton tried to tell you who the new King was,” Luke, being the wonderful friend he is, decides to share. “I don’t have to be a mind reader to figure that out. Chances are, the Amethysts hid the fact that they knew who the new King was. Maybe the King’s yet to form their Sword, but we all know something like a newborn King is hard to hide.”

“So… you’re basically telling me instead of fucking me in the shower, Ash wanted to tell me Gabriel is the new Amethyst King,” Calum wishes such crass words can faze Luke.

“A bit TMI, but yes,” they both ignore the pointed cough Michael lets out. “If Gabriel made the move, it can only mean they started whatever they have in their agenda.”

“It’s not called stealing when he was never sworn in…” Calum muses.

“It’s stupid,” Michael advises. “You and Gabriel both may have the same rebirth, but that does not mean you are at the same level of stability.” He looks at his boyfriend for support, which comes in the form of a nod. “Many Kings before you failed to stabilise their void magic before their end. Those who did gave in to the madness. This isn’t a win-win situation for you.”

“I never… I can have Ashton swear in to me,” Calum knows this is a last ditch effort. “We all know it took one explosion from my sister to burn out and die. I just need someone to be my comfort.”

“You think the difference of having him as your sworn-in Clansman would change things?” Michael hisses, ignoring the warning look Luke gives him. “When he wasn’t in the Clan, you had every chance to get him to.”

“It seems he long suspected I’d be the King once Mali burnt out,” Calum clenches his fists together. “He said he doesn’t want to see me suffer.”

“Kings often have someone to relax them. Hold them in place so they don’t fall apart,” Luke quips in, sounding scared. “Ashton was yours, and you need to reclaim the comfort he might be able to offer you before you’re too long gone.”

 

\---

 

“I remember telling you our little meetings cannot continue after the Amethyst King arose,” Ashton sighs. “Why are you here?”

“This is a state park, Ash, I think anyone has the right to visit here,” Calum calls up a figment of his aura as he extends a hand. “I need you. Far more than I ever did.”

“You might be the only one physically dead if the worst case becomes a reality,” Ashton looks down at his offered hand. “But the grief I carry will make me no more than a body with a beating heart.”

“Luke thinks you… that you can be my safe place,” Calum utters the words he never thought he’d need to in this context. “You’re right. All it needs is one out-of-control explosion for me to follow all the Kings before me. Onyx Clan is different. Other Kings are given many chances to stabilise their powers so they can rejuvenate. Void magic is an double-edged sword. I can take as much as needed, but when I rebound, my powers go with it.”

“If you die regardless, it’ll be my fault,” Calum feels a magical tug until the only thing he can see are Ashton’s eyes filled with hope and concern. “How will I survive knowing I killed the only person who mattered to me?”

“You’ll survive with me by your side,” his magic-charged hand cupping the side of Ashton’s neck, he angles their faces for a kiss. “Swear an oath with me.”

 

\---

 

“I guess all went well without your kingly hide being slaughtered for stealing their best fighter?” Luke doesn’t bother getting off Michael’s lap, but at least his head is in Calum’s way. “No matter how heavy the work is, you can’t cloak someone from your own Clan, King,”

“I was cloaking him from any Amethysts stationed around his flat,” Calum squeezes Ashton’s hand. “You know, this hotel might belong to us, but we still lend out all the suites to anyone who books it. I believe only 3% of the suites are permanently rented out to us.”

“And the best one has yours and Ashton’s name on it,” Michael, that bastard, seems to have been waiting for his sucker punch.

“Gabriel won’t be happy when they find out Ashton decided to move in with me,” Calum hopes to all the gods and nature spirits that his face stays red. “After all, Luke’s right for once. Ashton is the best fighter, close range, or long.”

 

He uses his void magic to escape from his best friends before they figure out the dirty meaning behind his words, Ashton’s giggle following him through. He uses it again to ‘toss’ Ashton onto the king-sized mattress.

“Exceeding your limits aside, you’re abusing your void magic,” Ashton whines, but no objections are detected. How Ashton struck a pose as soon as his body found solid ground is a big proof. “It was barely five feet.”

“Is that how you address your King, Ash?” Calum loses his clothes as he nears his boyfriend. _Consort?_

“It’s how I address my needy as fuck boyfriend… your Majesty,” Ashton groans, apparently just having noticed his clothes are gone. “I repeat: you abuse your void magic too much.”

“Don’t get your king mad,” Calum’s following actions are far from being mad, his lips tracing the jutting hip bone. “I might use my magic for selfish reasons.”

“Define ‘selfish’,” Ashton’s hand moves to tug harshly at Calum’s hair the moment he wraps his lips around his consort’s tip.

Creation magic is part of the Onyx Clan specials, but the main powers Calum likes using are shadow manipulation and void magic he’s entitled as the King. He’s really good at making shadows around him solid, using that as magical restraints for Ashton.

“It’s not fun when I can’t touch you, your Majesty,” Ashton retorts.

“You’re just asking for me to punish you further,” Calum hums, creating a small void-portal to fetch himself a bottle of lube.

“You stole that from Michael’s room,” Ashton snorts. “Some best friends.”

“He can learn the void magic himself if he finds issues with it,” Calum applies a generous amount to the very thing he dreamt of seeing in his bed for last few weeks. “Thought I suspect Luke will be the next King were I to perish.”

“You talk too much,” Ashton tugs at his magical restraint.

“You want my mouth doing something else then?”

Calum didn’t start dating Ashton based on his skills in bed alone. He knew how capable his consort was when it came to using his brain for something unrelated to bedroom activities. 

(Though this situation is _totally_ classified as a bedroom activity.)

“I don’t need my hands to be free to get what I want,” Ashton whispers against his King’s lips, his bound wrists crossed behind Calum’s neck.

“I can give you a magical cock ring, don’t be so smug,” Calum feels a dash of violet heat as he lines himself up at Ashton’s tip. “Wouldn’t really want that, would you?”

He giggles, swallowing Ashton’s would-be smug response as he sinks down, his own magic spiking up a notch or a thousand from the exhilaration. Many times before, they made love either in this over-priced room or Ashton’s little flat. It feels so much different as a reaffirmation of their love—a King and his consort. This feels more intense than their first time, and judging by the blissed-out expression on Ashton’s face, he can tell it’s mutual.

“Does this count as fucking on a throne?” Ashton chirps, his arms still around Calum’s neck.

“Don’t tempt me into actually giving you a cock ring,” Calum threatens, feeling the familiar magic coil around him _. Ashton’s_ magic.

The familiar warmth coils and covers his entire body, the pleasure building up to the threshold. He hears Ashton whisper something, something his fogged-up brain fails to decipher. He feels himself going over the threshold, his high crashing over like a tidal wave.

“I missed you, my King,” Ashton’s words sound like a pleasant lullaby, and he’s barely aware that he’s sticky all over, and inside, but sleep lulls him further…

 

Calum wakes up to a breathing heat source. Even in this barely-awake state, his body seems to remember that as Ashton and snuggles closer to his consort.

“I knew my extra duties included being your personal heater,” Ashton sighs.

“Guilty,” the King nips at Ashton’s yummy shoulders.

“You should work on your stamina. You fell asleep before I could give you a kiss. Or untie me magically,” Ashton pouts, too close to Calum’s tickle spot near his ears.

“Don’t tell me I still have you tied…?”

Apparently Calum’s emotional blue balls were so strong, Ashton’s wrists are yet to be free. Blushing, he undoes it and gets Ashton’s arms around him all proper.

“You sure do think a lot with your… other head,” Calum bites into the yummy shoulder again in hopes up shutting its owner up, but he fails. “I thought it loosened a bit, but it got tighter right before you woke up.”

“I wasn’t—”

“Tell me, what were you doing in your dream, my King?” one hand snakes down to pinch his ass. “I hope it’s worth a re-enactment.”

“I’m very certain you kept your Amethyst aura somehow,” Calum calls up on his shadowy aura to match the heat starting to spread across Ashton’s palm. “That is rare.”

“You’re gonna read up on decades old books when you can do experiments with me?” Ashton cups his chin, heat now a tolerable sear. “Such a studious king.”

“Michael and Luke said something about preparing for a retaliation from the Amethyst Clan…” Calum protests weakly, their eyes meeting in matching glow of galactic abyssal black. “Stop with that…”

“Stop with what?” Ashton feigns innocence, kneading at Calum’s ass single-handedly. “You were asleep for a mere hour. The night’s still young.”

“Perhaps the fact I slept through dinner time and woke up right after sunset attributes to your statement,” Calum considers room service. Quick, but very open to the possibility of Michael intercepting the call and delivering the food himself.

“I’ll cook.”

 

Staring at Ashton’s ass as his consort was cooking dinner was the worst ordeal Calum ever endured. He uses his magic to safely deliver the plates to the bed, with Ashton as the bonus item.

“You need to stop with the void magic,” Ashton warns, his further words interrupted by a large chunk of mashed potato.

“I know my limits,” Calum hums, eating a piece of the gigantic sausage.

 

Calum barely has the time to use his magic to deliver the plates to the sink when Ashton pins him to the bed the way he was sitting on the mattress, a familiar glint entering those hazel depths. He opens his mouth to resume his taunts about how improperly his consort’s been treating his King, but he forgets what his words were going to be.

He never had the ability to form words when Ashton was around him, anyways.

“I think I like being on top of my King,” Ashton presses a fluttering kiss to Calum’s jawline. “He looks helpless—so defenseless against my touches.”

“I can have you thrown into the dungeon for your arrogance,” Calum crosses his fingers behind his head, an invitation.

“Dungeon sex is on my list, but nowhere near the top, I’m afraid,” Ashton seems to notice the challenge Calum issued, his eyes fixed on his wrists for a brief moment before putting his lips where they belong.

The downside, of course, being Calum’s ability to think disappearing like clouds after a shower.

“You should consult your strategist before a move like this, my King,” Ashton’s words dance with a taunting edge, shadowy chain tightening around Calum’s wrists. “What do they say? ‘Turnabout’s all about fair play’?”

“I think you’re mixing up a few quotes there,” the chain feels solid, like they’re the real chains that might be fit for restraining larger creatures.

“Does it change the fact that you’re turned on as fuck?” Ashton props a pillow against the curve leading to the top of the hill Calum’s buttocks create. “I think _stabilising_ your magic starts with the relaxed state of your body and mind…”

He isn’t sure where Ashton is basing his theories on, but he soon figures out that before this so-called _relaxation_ , his body will be tense as hell. The soft lapping rhythm Ashton’s tongue creates against his _could_ be considered relaxing, save for how hard and leaking he is. The bastard knows that too, judging by how his tongue-tip barely prods the inside of the rim as his forefinger jabs at his perineum. He vows revenge, the idea washing away with the force of his release.

“My, my,” Ashton slurps around his slit, ‘cleaning up’. “You look so perfect… I could draw you like this.”

“Don’t you dare,” the words slip out like a hiss.

“I believe Michael saw my other work plenty of times and teased you mercilessly,” Ashton laughs, cleaning more of Calum’s mess. “You’ll be wearing something next time I draw you.”

“He was harassing his King, let’s clarify that part,” Calum whines for attention, demanding his restraints be gone.

“Hm, Luke will try to kick my ass if I tried to kick Michael’s ass a little for ‘harassing’ his childhood friend.” Calum feels the magic dissipate, seeping into his skin and encompassing him with warmth of his consort’s magic.

“He isn’t your personal guard for nothing,” Ashton smirks, using a mundane way to pin Calum’s arms. “Might need to thank him later for keeping you out of trouble.”

“As long as it’s before Michael starts showing _his_ gratitude for his boyfriend, you won’t be _too_ traumatised,” Calum welcomes the next shower of kisses Ashton attacks him with, losing himself in the blissful feeling.

 

\---

 

“My suite is right below yours, I’ll let you know that,” isn’t the first thing Calum likes hearing when he wakes up around noon, but he knows Michael has the extra key for… safety reasons. “And Ashton tried to kill me for me almost seeing you naked. Does he know we’ve been friends for so long, such disgusting things won’t repel me?”

“I think I found out the real reason why he tried to kill you…” Calum yawns, burying his face in the pillow. “Ashton, why is he inside anyways?”

“He has a key,” Ashton sounds murderous. “And the only reason I’ve yet to kill him is because you haven’t given me an order… and he isn’t stupid enough to be a traitor.”

“Can you _please_ fire him? I swear—”

A magical hologram flies its way between Calum and Michael, unfolding the message it carries.

“‘Calum, King of the Onyx Clan, we are notified you reunited with Ashton Irwin. This is an act of aggression towards the Amethyst Clan, and I, Gabriel of Amethyst Clan, declare war,’” even the hologram-version of Gabriel annoys Calum. “‘Meet me at the café near the neutral grounds you frequented. We shall have one last talk before we drag this further.’”

 

If Calum learnt anything from his sister’s death, it’s that Amethyst Clan cannot be trusted. He sent a message of his own, but to the Topaz King.

“You think Selina will heed to your call?” Michael whispers on their way to the meeting place.

“Onyx Kings are cursed with uncontrolled powers, simply put; Amethyst Kings are often volatile and madness-driven; and Topaz Kings, whilst not the most reliable ally, they were gifted by foresight…” Calum glares at Michael through the rear-view mirror. “Can we have the partition up?”

“No way in hell,” Michael refuses, a power only he has as the childhood friend.

He wants to argue the power Ashton holds as his consort is greater than being an annoying asshole.

 

Gabriel looks all too pleased that Calum showed up only with Ashton, Michael, Luke, and a handful of his Clansmen who are skilled battlers.

“I see you were wise,” Gabriel snaps their fingers and their Clansmen remove their cloaking charm. “I wonder why you decided to claim Irwin after so long? You had the chance when your sister was alive as King. You had every opportunity to persuade him into swearing into Onyx Clan. You only did it _after_ you became the King yourself.”

“A cloaking charm I could detect miles away? Your folks need to practise magic they’re more familiar with,” Calum reinforces his magic a tenfold, cloaking himself and creating a void to near Gabriel in a heartbeat. “Otherwise, you lose.” He points a magical blade at their throat.

“See, you’re a cheater when it comes to fair play with your void magic, Calum,” for someone with a blade-tip at their throat, Gabriel sounds smug. “This is why I brought backup.”

Calum knows in the back of his mind, maximising his powers as a King requires summoning his Sword of Damocles. He knows that’s the only way of Gabriel beating him in a combat.

He also knows that if they wanted to maximise their powers without summoning their Sword, therefore prolonging their pathetic excuse of a life, they can get someone with more stable Sword to do it for them.

Carry out the dirty work.

The pressure of a new King’s aura is too much to miss, and he feels something flung at him before a crashing noise and impact. The dust stops storming to reveal a face he didn’t expect to see.

“Well,” the newcomer smirks. “I don’t think my arrival was announced like a King.”

“I thought you were of myth and stories for kids,” Calum glances up, the wispy, black shadow creating the barrier between him and the mythical King.

“Oh? It’s only been fifty years. I was hoping people remembered me to this date,” the King’s eyes glitter with promised _fun_ , deepest shade of blue he’s ever seen _anywhere_. “Zircon King… reporting back from being adrift!”

 

\---

 

From a quick glance at Gabriel, Calum can gather this was not the King the bastard made an alliance with.

“My powers lie with healing, I’m afraid I’m not to engage as a mediator,” the Zircon King hums, her French accent rolling off for a second. “I came to this country in hopes of adventures and friendship… of course the Tablets decided that was not the case. I saw many battles and survived it with growing remorse. I only perfected the art of healing to the point of being immortal. My loved ones died and I didn’t want to partake in this meaningless cockfight.”

Gabriel, ever the reckless one, charges at the oldest King alive, but she deflects the blow effortlessly. She doesn’t spare them a glance.

“The Topaz and Opal Clans are on the move,” Calum gives the signal for his Clansmen to hold off for now. “Why are you here? You bided your time carefully.”

“There’s one person in this crowd who intrigues me as my possible successor,” the Zircon King muses. “You know my name, I suppose. _Ivoire._ ”

“Names don’t mean anything when it comes to Kings,” Ashton speaks up, a few feet behind Calum’s position.

“It doesn’t, but it used to be a name feared by magic practitioners in Europe,” a grin carves a beautifully cynic smile on Ivoire’s face. “Guess time changes a lot of things.”

“You’re stalling,” Ashton, bless his reckless heart, notes.

“I think we both knew the Opal King wouldn’t live to see another decade start,” Ivoire easily blocks Ashton’s parry. “They should have a new King, and it shall be a dance between five Kings! Even in Europe, I never had the pleasure of seeing all the other Kings.”

Calum feels someone’s shadow shield keeping him from lunging forward, and judging by the stubbornness etched into the magic, he can tell it’s Michael. He wonders if the shield is cloaked, knowing fully well a shield of this magnitude is usually visible to other Clansmen.

“My, I thought the Topaz Clan would show up faster than this,” Ivoire uses her magic to drop the Topaz Clansmen from their anti-gravity magic. “Still thinking about Gabriel’s offer?”

“It’s tempting, but their personal issues with the Onyx King can be settled in their own accord,” the Topaz King shrugs, adjusting their mask. “We meet again, Irwin.”

Something in a shape of an arrow shoots out from Ashton’s direction, the Topaz King laughing from the effort. Calum gets a bad feeling in his stomach.

“It’s been so long since the last time I saw you… and your siblings,” the other King hums, their jewel-yellow eyes gleaming with interest. “You still remember me, huh?”

“You weren’t a King back then, but I remember the signature your magic left when you murdered my siblings,” waves of fury wash over Calum in a manner that’s stronger than anything he’s felt. “What was the point of it?”

“I was under orders. I’m still an assassin, after all,” the Topaz King calls for their Clan to regroup.

“Whatever she’s planning—” Calum jerks his thumb in Ivoire’s direction, summoning the void-portal. “I need answers.” And everyone he brought with him gets sucked into the void.

 

“The Zircon King,” Luke doesn’t sound happy. “She doesn’t have a Clan of her own. How is she so strong?”

“And alive,” Michael presses a kiss and a whisper to Luke’s neck.

“You know who the Topaz King is,” Calum dismisses Ivoire for something more threatening. “They killed your family.”

“Leighton,” Ashton avoids eye contact. “My family stayed outside of Clan business since my mother died. Leighton befriended me and killed my siblings ‘as a lesson’.”

“What was the lesson?”

“It was right before I took shelter with the Onyx Clan,” Ashton cringes. “I told you I needed your protection.”

“With or without the protection ending with an oath, you always had me,” Calum catches Michael retreating to his own room, with Luke in his arms.

“I hope you’re right,” Ashton presses a kiss to Calum’s cheek.

 

\---

 

Calum stays up, aimlessly gazing at the galaxy his magic created until the first ray of sun chases it away. Not a lot of records of Ashton’s lineage remains, and he’ll bet either Leighton or Gabriel deleted whatever evidence they keep to themselves. He doesn’t know why Gabriel is so set on destroying his life, but Leighton is more of a priority to him right now.

“You need sleep,” Ashton mumbles, words laced with sleep and grumpiness. “I’ll make you fall asleep.”

“That’s a promise,” Calum giggles, pressing his naked body against Ashton’s. “But you have to be more awake than that to force me to sleep, you know…”

Calum finds himself proven wrong when Ashton’s arms wrap around him, filling him with the warmth he craves all the time.

 

Calum wakes up to Ashton’s soft humming, his magic draped over him. He tries to protest, but one kiss dissipates his words.

“You’re so mean,” Calum inches closer to Ashton’s heat.

“Too bad this power of mine only works on the stubborn Onyx King,” Ashton replies with the sweetest kiss they ever shared. “I think his name means ‘dove’ or something in Scottish Gaelic.”

“Digging up my family history, I see,” Calum is too content to be actually mad in Ashton’s warm presence.

“They thought the Clansmen in Europe were witches and heretics,” Ashton hums, his weight comfortable on top of the Onyx King. “Your father’s side probably has the lineage of druids.”

“Good to know people from centuries ago thought the worse part of my lineage was crazy heretics who could do godly things,” Calum feigns being hurt. He already knew this. Even though there weren’t any Kings in recent generations from his father’s side, they were all high up in the power scale.

Even people outside the Onyx King has heard of the tale of the King in the Old World who discovered Australia and New Zealand way before recorded history.

“That’s nothing you didn’t know before,” Ashton lifts the magic blanket from Calum, a bratty whine from the Onyx King bringing it back. “I haven’t really been able to dig up my own family history. All I know are the stories my mum told my siblings as bedtime stories.”

“I assume she told the same ones to you?”

“Mm, they’re the type of stories you’d listen to without many questions when you’re, say, five. You may think them over if your subconscious self brings it in your dreams,” Ashton nuzzles his nose against Calum’s, the expression of fondness pure and simple. “Kind of like those heroes from Greece, I guess. The childhood versions hide deeper meanings once you rethink the dual meanings when you’re older.”

“One of them is that the hero is never getting the good ending,” Calum smiles wryly. “You knew that, and you think I’m an exception.”

“You’re no hero,” Calum doesn’t resist as he dips his head willingly, their lips gliding in an intimate flurry. “You’re my King, and I’ll serve you ‘til my last breath.”

The Onyx King doesn’t know if his will be the first to end.

 

\---

 

“Michael’s usually the spontaneous one to give you stupid advices, but I guess it’s finally my turn,” Luke steps out of the shadow, making Calum scoff. “I told you that a King needs someone to stabilise the in dire needs. I said that as a warning so you can talk with Ashton and smooth those wrinkles in your path, so to speak.”

Calum uses his shadow tricks to summon a ghost version of his Sword of Damocles. The groan Luke exhales isn’t a surprise to him.

“How long do you think you have left?” Luke flicks his wrist, chasing shadows away from them both. “I doubt Ashton doesn’t know, or Michael.”

“My Sword was unstable even when I first manifested it,” Calum figures he can’t hide something like this from his guard when the said guard is also a long-time friend. “The Curse lives on.”

“You’d be a selfish King and a bastard of a friend if you left one of your living friends the burden of killing a King,” Luke sighs, defeated by what Calum has yet to verbalise.

“I didn’t realise using void magic can consume me so much,” he confesses, staring into the abyssal pool he created in the image of a swirling galaxy. “Ever since Ashton left and until the day I reclaimed him, I did more than void-travel. You’re the only one smart enough to realise the pressure drop was different from a regular void-travel. Mali used void magic more often than I did, but she did it in a lesser degree, with longer resting periods.” He laughs mirthlessly, glaring at the shadowy galaxy. “When I curve real-life images to my shadows, I’m _travelling_ to the inter-dimensional void. Going one step further, I created this void-portal to travel to Ashton’s dream world by chasing his mana. Sounding like a stalker, I suppose. I did assume I’d die before our uneventful forevermore starts.”

“You’re just too proud to admit you still have a future with Ashton. You can fool everyone including Michael, but not me,” Luke shoves past his King. “Get your shit together, you really need to or Gabriel will get the best of you.”

 

\---

 

“The stars you used to create for me so I can recover from my nightmare-induced panic attacks… night terrors, I think those are called…” Ashton raises his hand to flick his own magic into the pool, making the starts vibrate. “Tell me why you’re lying to me, Cal.”

“What’s the point of telling you the truth when we both know the inevitable?” Calum climbs on top, both of them completely nude after their relaxing bath-massage time. “I daydream of _our_ future, not just _mine_!”

“Maybe that’s why you’re so mad, Ashy,” elbows crowding Ashton’s head from moving, he gazes into the swirling emotions—anger, confusion, but most of all…

 _Love_ , Calum only realises he gasped from Ashton’s following reaction. _Love really does make us all stupid._

“It doesn’t,” Ashton laughs dryly, causing Calum’s train of panicked thoughts. “You think love makes us stupid, but I think it makes us tad bit more courageous. Do things we wouldn’t do otherwise. Stupid? Possibly. But as long as we see the end result, I want it.”

 

Calum wakes up in Ashton’s protective arms, heat radiating from his consort as always. As he suspected, Ashton seems to be in rare possession of the ability where one can use more than one Clan’s aura. He’s certain his consort knows.

“Your morning wood is digging into my thigh, so perish the thoughts of waking me up with kisses,” a drowsy, and Calum-approved sexy morning voice, tickles his earlobe. “Giv’a few minutes and I’ll tend to you, my King…”

“This is weird, you know. Usually, in bed roleplay, the person in higher position has more power,” Calum teases, a hand-shaped shadow edging closer to Ashton’s cock. “How is it you know all the ways to excite me?”

“Practice makes perfect, after all,” Ashton hums, heat sparking near Calum’s top of the spine. “Remember when we met in first-year level class for Dessin?”

“You only took it so you can get into other art courses they offer,” it’s hard for a King to keep his calm when his consort is playing with his sensitive skin.  “Michael wanted me to do something practical with my hands for once, so I chose that randomly.”

“And what a wonderful nude model you were later that year,” Ashton’s heat-formed fingers mimic the very place their physical counterpart touched during the aforementioned modelling time. “I invited you back to my dorm, and you were eager to get out of your clothes. I believe this happened when I was sketching your last post…”

Calum thinks it’s unfair and absurd how Ashton doesn’t need to open his eyes to repeat what they did nearly a decade ago. He’s desperate for a release already, and Ashton’s hand—magical or physical—isn’t anywhere near where he needs him.

Caressing a spot underneath Calum’s shoulder blade, Ashton tilts his head to kiss the hollow part of his neck. The King swallows nervously, his own assault on Ashton long-forgotten.

“Besides,” the certainty in Ashton’s beautiful eyes sends a shiver down Calum’s spine. “Why would a King need to do anything when he has someone to take care of all the needs?”

Calum releases the second Ashton’s fingertips graze his prostate, alongside a lot of embarrassing confessions. Ashton scatters them away with a kiss that makes his mind a hazy mess. He bites and suckles hard onto Ashton’s neck in a feeble attempt of a revenge, rolling on top of his consort.

“Impatient?” the heat disappears, only to reappear right above Calum’s wildly racing heart. “I wonder if we can get hitched…”

“I think I’d like a proper proposal followed by a proper wedding ceremony,” Calum protests, betrayed by his own dick hardening again from Ashton’s warm touch. “And your dick inside me before the day is over.”

“I meant it when a King has all his needs covered by someone,” a searing shadow flickers near his hole before it solidifies, wiggling to find his prostate. “More specifically, _you have me_.”

Calum thinks it’s cheating for his consort to make him lose half his control just from silver words. He’s technically overstimulated, so he blames that for all the things he wouldn’t say otherwise.

“I think that requires a lot of mana if we were to attempt that procedure,” Ashton remarks in that snide, cocky tone of his. Calum can’t refute when Ashton’s dick is finally prodding his (angry) hole.

Calum always wondered what was the very extent of this _protection_ magic Amethyst Clan boasted as their specialty. He assumed it was no different than shadow magic. Hone your skills into one type of magic, which was projection and manipulation in Onyx.

He didn’t expect Ashton to keep his Amethyst aura, or he’d use that _protection_ magic in this manner. He thinks it’s cheating, most definitely.

“I think there’s a difference between a magical cock restraint and whatever you’re doing,” he croaks out, sensing magic all around.

“I don’t know what you mean, your Majesty,” Ashton claims a spot on Calum’s shoulder with his lips and tongue.

The Onyx King figures he can’t be the one complaining when it feels so good. Whatever this is, it heightened Calum’s sensitivity. He feels himself reaching and falling back, over and over again a few times before he figures out what Ashton is doing.

“Magical edging without doing too much work,” he gasps as the waves diminish. “How is this part of the protection magic?”

“Mixed with a few ingredients of my own, my King,” Ashton looks so smug, Calum wants to kiss it off.

And so he does, quivering around Ashton as Ashton breathes out his name like a prayer.

 

\---

 

“We’d have broken Ash out sooner if his distraction plans are better than our puny ones,” Michael points triumphantly at Calum’s bruise-covered jaw-to-shoulder line. “I think I read a word, someone cleanse my soul.”

“You don’t have one,” Luke mumbles quietly, and Calum’s mind _goes there_.

“True, you sucked—”

“In reality, Michael isn’t my lieutenant, he’s just the baby Luke babysits,” Calum takes a seat at his ‘throne’. “Where are the others?”

“Well, we’re the only ones who could make it,” Michael taps his lap until Luke mounts it. “There were several reports of an unidentified Strain near the hotel. Someone from the Topaz Clan said they’ll cooperate just for the Strain’s capture, but required someone with strong enough shadow magic to help. Jean-Baptiste, was it? He’s the one in charge of foreign affairs so he went with a dozen of our men. The other one needed was on a patrol when she saw the Zircon King. Haven’t heard anything since but worst-case scenario, you can break her out easily.”

“What this idiot is saying is,” Luke flicks Michael’s forehead. “Just tell us your plans against te Opal and Zircon Kings, and we can carry it out.”

“Ashton was a Strain before he… took some time away from Onyx,” Calum gives Ashton his best puppy-face before he sits closer to his throne. “My assumption is he managed to siphon my powers before he joined Amethyst, and the siphoned power remained long enough, it enabled him to wield two auras.”

“I’m sure our friend thought of that as a possibility,” Michael glances at Ashton, a streak of unidentifiable emotion flashing in his eyes. “And you knew all along.”

“It wasn’t my initial plan to swear to the Amethyst King,” Ashton shrugs. “I told this idiot—” Calum catches his wrist. “—that my family stopped intervening with the Clans for a while. Love really is the most powerful force if I slowly turned towards the life my family didn’t want. Not all, but a few, Strains work as siphons. The ability to siphon and store how much mana… that’s dependent on each individual.”

“It’s a generational legacy of your family, isn’t it?” Michael works out, surprising Luke. “While the Topaz King wanted the root of a profound threat gone, the Amethyst wanted it.”

“Selina’s dead,” Luke whispers. “That’s the only reason Ivoire made her move.”

“Which means…?

“I don’t know,” Luke demands Michael gives him his hand, only to nip at it. “She said she knew Selina wouldn’t live to see another decade of her life… meaning her power of healing is the extent of her powers of a King.”

“I’m listening,” Calum gets a bad feeling, and by the looks of how tense Michael is, so does his strategist.

“She can see life aura,” Luke deadpans. “That’s why she stayed away, that’s why she was hiding from Selina. Selina’s powers were something that negated that of Zircon.” Eerie glow from Luke’s eyes scares Calum. “What word isn’t necessarily an antonym for ‘life’ but in the realm of magic and deception, it’s in parallel, seemingly opposite?”

“Life can be taken,” Michael, either by reading Luke’s flow of thoughts or coming to a realisation himself, curses. “But in Selina’s case, _she sustained it_.”

“Sustained vitality,” Calum can guess there’s a new King for Opal. “Now someone, either the second-in-command or third, if you go by how powerful one is, has that power.”

 _And both know I have less than a year, even were I to use void magic less_ , Calum muses darkly _. And I don’t regret any second I wasted for Ashton_.

 

///

 

_“Say, Ashton. They said only the strongest can either become the next King, or forge their way to the throne by themselves,” Calum grinned, still encompassed by the naïveté youth unmarred by death and manipulation. “Do you think you could be one of them?”_

“It was over before the start,” Ashton watches the silver moonlight change into the black nothingness in that short moment where neither sunlight nor moonlight exist.

A wave of neo-light only the King of long-forgotten Clan can read and manipulate.

He didn’t approach Calum at the campus because that was his mother’s dying wish.

He didn’t approach Calum in hopes of joining him in the Onyx Clan or raising his own.

He approached Calum because he radiated with gentleness and warmth he lacked.

With all due respects to how the Tablets choose a King, a King isn’t announced as such before they manifest their Sword of Damocles fully, presenting them as a successor to the predecessor.

As far as Ashton’s concerned, a King from a Clan forgotten in both the Old and New Worlds wouldn’t mean much.

 _This land has Ancient Clans who battled each other before the European settlements_ , Ashton sighs, knowing his place better than anyone else _. To usurp the balance that the Five Kings carefully crafted here…_

“Calum,” he breathes the words against his King, his fucking soulmate’s lips. “I wish our fate was different.”

 

He pretends to have woken up after Calum did, reading the expressions the other King displays without much trouble. Their carefully formulated foolishness is the only thing that keeps Ashton sane, after all. He hugs his King, distracting him from making breakfast.

“What is it?”

“I don’t think I saw you using the full extent of your powers, that’s all,” Ashton replies nonchalantly, not sure if Calum would take the bait. “You haven’t manifested your Sword since you claimed it, have you?”

“There’s no need. People think void magic is unstable, but under careful guidance, it’s the perfect destruction magic,” Ashton feels it the moment the air around Calum switches, like he found something he shouldn’t have. “You wouldn’t make me go full-power mode for nothing, Ashton…”

“In time of a war, I think it’s necessary,” Ashton gulps. He’s yet to claim his Sword of Damocles, which is the only reason why the other Kings couldn’t sense him. He summons all his aura in case Calum _does_ know.

“Michael isn’t a strategist for nothing,” Calum’s words are ominous. “He’s too smart for his own good. He suspected. He found written records of this… a King from a Clan older than Zircon.”

“I never meant to lie,” Ashton grits, tears forming ceaselessly. “But it’s the only way of surviving.”

“Luke didn’t attack you because you didn’t show aggression. Michael agreed, but I ignored them, Ashy,” the Onyx King’s eyes burn with black hellfire. “You’re too strong to be a Strain who trained on his own. They don’t go around massacring Strains, especially if they hold the title of being a King.”

“No King ever could kill my family,” Ashton quips, a terrible idea. “At least, not on a fair match.”

“Your mother’s murder reached every King’s ear,” Calum summons a shadowy knife, positioning it above Ashton’s erratic heart. “I heard it because Mali shared it with me and Luke.”

Ashton summons his Sword of Damocles, his aura surrounding him—and in return, shattering their Clan pact. He feels the aura of his Clan he reclaimed like the last King who claimed such title.

“I’m the Spessartine King,” he can feel the amber-orange aura surrounding him, the heat melting away the other Clan auras. “I only wish this could go the way we both planned.”

 _The only way two Kings can cooperate_ , Ashton almost gets knocked down to his knees from the pressure Calum’s corresponding Sword manifestation exerts. _Is for the other to perish. You know that, Calum, don’t you?_

“I only have one reserve for killing a King without exploding myself—succumbing to my fate all the Onyx Kings followed,” opaque, thick shadowy aura flickers around Calum. He knows very well Calum can use his void magic to escape this situation. “And you were right on one thing, Ashton.”

Ashton searches for any giveaways for Calum’s intention, but he finds none.

_“‘A mad King is only as good as a dead one.’”_

**Author's Note:**

> tbc


End file.
